1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to network-based computer services and, more particularly, methods of and systems for managing purchase, sale, and distribution of renewable resources through many, unaffiliated distribution sites.
2. Description of the Related Art
A vehicular revolution has been brewing for decades. Some people studying worldwide supply and demand for fossil fuels have predicted that prices for gasoline will soon top $20 per gallon. In the wake of such predictions, numerous attempts have been made to provide vehicles that use less and less of the increasingly precious fuel. Examples include fully electric cars that run on charged batteries, compressed hydrogen passing through a fuel cell, and compressed-air vehicles.
However, our current infrastructure only supports wide spread distribution of liquid gasoline. Each form of alternative vehicular fuel requires an entirely new distribution infrastructure. For vehicles that would run on compressed hydrogen, a distributed network of hydrogen dispensing stations would be required. For vehicles that would run on compressed air, a distributed network of compressed air would be required. While charging stations for electric vehicles are increasingly available, such stations are few and far between and the notoriously short ranges of electric vehicles requires much greater availability at many more locations.
In addition, electric vehicles that run on batteries often require substantial amounts of time to charge. Accordingly, the quick stop at gas stations that motorists have become accustomed to may not be feasible for rechargeable electric vehicles. Some have proposed battery swap stations at which a rechargeable electric vehicle swaps its entire battery cluster for a fully charged cluster, but again, this would require a major modification to infrastructure.
One obstacle for large scale investment in a new distribution infrastructure for alternative fuels is that it is still not clear which type of alternatively-fueled vehicles will be sufficiently widely adopted to justify such large scale investment. And, the absence of distribution infrastructure for each of the alternative fuels impedes wide adoption of these fuels.
What is needed is an alternative fuel distribution system in which infrastructure can be expanded incrementally with small scale investment.